This will be brief. But, can I just say that I miss the public transportation system in France. My college is small and in the middle of a very (very) rural area, and I grew up in a small town. So I am used to the idea of driving everywhere and long car trips. In contrast, the idea of public transit seemed foreign and daunting. But now that I’m back at school, I’m noticing more and more how tedious it is to get around here and how disconnected I feel from the area.
In Paris, a Navigo pass for the public transit system was a necessity to travel between my apartment and my Alliance class and for getting around in general. There was a period of slight disorientation as my friend and I figured out what goes where and when, but once we figured it out, we had the whole city just a few steps away (okay, maybe a lot of steps, but you know what I mean). With enough time, you can get anywhere, experience all the city has to offer, without the dealing with the responsibility or logistics of a personal vehicle (parking, traffic, gas, etc.). It was a kind of freedom that I’d never experienced before. We could even use the trains to get to the aeroport or towns outside Paris.
Plus, riding the metro provides you with a little meditation time. Rarely anyone talks on the metro, and we also discovered rule number one is DON’T MAKE EYE CONTACT. So really I could spend my morning and afternoon commutes reading a book, catching up on homework, listening to music, hanging out with my best friend, or completely and utterly zoning out.
There’s never a dull moment either; the metro is full of weirdly entertaining advertisements, street performers of all kinds, mini flower and fruit booths, and its great for people watching. Ultimately, aside from the occasional weird smell, weird person, sketchy metro stop, train delay, or so. many. stairs, the metro was just so convenient. In retrospect, I once thought I disliked city life, but I realize now that I disliked cities because they seemed so inexhaustibly vast. But once you conquer the public transit, you fall right in step with the rest of the city. Now that I’m back, I feel so distanced from the community around campus, which is so disheartening.
And it’s so much harder to go places.
lifesansflan 